Best Creative Agencies in Montreal (2026)

Introduction

Montreal is Canada’s second-largest agency market and home to some of its best-known independents, and the 8 creative agencies below show the range, from lg2 and Sid Lee to small studios built around social causes. Each was chosen for recent work, 2025 and 2026 recognition, and the clients it keeps.

The city is the centre of French-language advertising on the continent, so most agencies here write in French and English and adapt national campaigns for Quebec. Tougher Bill 96 rules on commercial advertising and signage came into force in June 2025, which has made French-first craft a core skill. Independents have been busy: lg2 began reorganising itself as a network of standalone businesses in March 2026, Sid Lee integrated GDP in April 2026 to push into the US, and Rethink, which runs a Montreal office, was named Independent Agency of the Year at Cannes Lions 2026.

Every agency here has an active Montreal office in 2026. The list leans towards independents and integrated idea shops, and it runs in no fixed order of merit, since the right choice depends on your brief, budget and how you like to work.

The best creative agencies in Montreal

1. lg2

Independent · Montreal · lg2.com

lg2 describes itself as Canada’s largest independent creative agency, with offices in Montreal, Quebec City and Toronto. It started in advertising more than 30 years ago and added design about 15 years ago; the ADCC named it Design Agency of the Year in November 2024, its second win in a row, and it took Silver at Strategy’s 2024 Agency of the Year. In April 2025 the group bought Dialekta and Varibase, and in March 2026 CEO Claude Auchu described a shift from one agency to a network of standalone businesses.

Recent work includes the brand platform and restaurant architecture for Ashton (a joint project between the Montreal and Quebec City offices), the identity for dental start-up Halo Dental, and “Buzzkill”, a mock dispensary for the Ontario Cannabis Store. lg2 is a certified B Corp. Its services run from strategy and advertising to packaging, digital experience and architecture, which helps clients who want a brand and its physical spaces handled by one group.

2. Sid Lee

Part of kyu · Montreal · sidlee.com

Sid Lee was founded in Montreal in 1993 and now has more than 700 people across disciplines. It took Bronze at Strategy’s 2024 Agency of the Year after combining its Montreal, Toronto and US teams, and in April 2026 Sid Lee Group integrated GDP and appointed Derek Robson as chairman to lead its US expansion. Rodrigo Coelho was named managing director of Sid Lee Sport Canada in January 2026.

The 2026 roster shows how much Quebec work it still carries: a Quebec relaunch for Porter Airlines (“On Va Vous Porter”), Lotto Max messaging for Loto-Québec, a renovation for RONA’s Fred the Groundhog, and a refreshed look for Trou du Diable. Further afield it made “Canwich” for Maple Leaf Foods and began creative partnerships with Tetley Canada and TIFF.

3. Rethink

Independent · Plateau-Mont-Royal · rethinkideas.com

Rethink is headquartered in Toronto and runs a Montreal office on Mont-Royal Avenue, led by managing partner Alex Lefebvre. Adweek named it Independent Agency of the Year in December 2025, and at Cannes Lions 2026 it was named Independent Agency of the Year and Independent Network of the Year, finishing third overall. Its Heinz campaign comparing the ketchup logo to fry boxes won the Grand Prix in Print & Publishing.

Other recent work includes IKEA’s “u up?”, Coors Light’s “Coors Lights Out” and Molson’s “See My Name”. Rethink added PR in late 2024 and a design practice in 2025, and it is a certified B Corp. Ask which work and which people will come from the Montreal office, since many headline campaigns are led from Toronto.

4. Bleublancrouge

Independent, part of Humanise Collective · Saint-Henri · bleublancrouge.world

Bleublancrouge (BBR) is a long-standing Montreal independent and a member of Humanise Collective, a group of indie shops. Marie-Claude Lachance, formerly a vice-president at Cossette, became president in September 2024. The agency is a certified B Corp and works from a studio on Brewster Avenue in Saint-Henri.

Desjardins is its best-known client, and BBR built the campaign around the cooperative’s 125th anniversary. The wider roster includes SAQ, Mila, Alloprof, Geloso, Boréale and Uniprix. Glassroom, an independent media agency in the same collective, shares the building and has worked on Desjardins media, which suits clients who want creative and media planned side by side.

5. TUX

Independent · Rosemont · tux.co

TUX is an independent full-service creative agency based in Montreal and Los Angeles, with its Montreal studio on Saint-Hubert Street. It has appeared more than once on Adweek’s list of fastest-growing agencies, and it is a certified B Corp that runs a four-day week.

The work is fashion and lifestyle heavy: a Levi’s summer campaign, Ralph Lauren’s Polo 67 with Aaron Judge and Polo Red, Nike Swim, W Hotels and Quip. Its split between Montreal and Los Angeles suits brands that want a Quebec-based team with experience on US fashion accounts.

6. Bob

Creative marketing agency · Griffintown · bob.ca

Bob is a Montreal creative marketing agency on rue Ann that mixes brand identity, campaigns and live activations. Grenier magazine featured its Catherine St-Jean as Personality of the Week in October 2025.

Its recent projects lean on events and sponsorships: the Omnium Banque Nationale 2025 and a university activation called “Fais ton chemin” for National Bank, along with activations at Festival NORR and Fierté Montréal 2025, plus Piknic Électronik 2025. It has also run campaigns for the Barreau du Québec and Nutricap and built identities for Institut Écho and TPS Hockey.

7. Upperkut

Social marketing agency · Plateau-Mont-Royal · upperkut.com

Upperkut calls itself the agency “qui fait du bon et du bien” and specialises in high-impact creative campaigns and social marketing. From its studio on rue Drolet it covers strategy, creative, media, web, video production and PR.

Its clients are mostly public bodies, associations and non-profits: Ville de Montréal, Ville de Longueuil, the Commission de la construction du Québec, the Fédération des médecins spécialistes du Québec, Option consommateurs and Piétons Québec. Current work includes the first phase of the Association québécoise de prévention du suicide’s campaign for 2026 to 2028 and a new identity for the CEGQ’s 30th anniversary.

8. Republik

Social-impact creative agency · Downtown · republik.ca

Republik describes itself as a social-impact creative agency and works from offices on rue Saint-Alexandre downtown. Its portfolio centres on brands with an environmental or community angle, and it builds brand platforms as well as campaigns.

Recent work includes a brand platform for outdoor brand Chlorophylle, a platform for cycling brand Baumier and a campaign on sustainable oat farming for Oatbox. The client list also includes Cascades, Lassonde, Unibroue, VIA Rail, Équiterre, Pomerleau and the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal.

What to look for in a Montreal creative agency

Start with language. Most Montreal agencies write in French first, and the stronger ones create original French work rather than translating English campaigns. If you need both markets, ask to see work that ran in Quebec and the rest of Canada, and ask who writes the English. Since June 2025 the Bill 96 rules on advertising and signage apply in full, so your agency should be able to explain how it handles them, with the final call resting with your own legal team.

Look at structure. Several of the agencies here belong to larger independent groups (lg2’s network of businesses, Bleublancrouge within Humanise Collective, Sid Lee within kyu), which can bring media, PR or design under one roof. Smaller shops such as Upperkut, Republik and Bob tend to put senior people on every account and know the Quebec public and non-profit sectors well.

Check who will work on your account, by name. Agencies with offices in Montreal and Toronto sometimes run Quebec accounts from Montreal and national ones from Toronto. Ask where the creative director sits, and which office made the case studies in the pitch.

Finally, look at how the agency handles the day-to-day: where files live, how feedback is gathered, and how approvals are tracked. Bilingual campaigns double the number of versions in play, and a French and an English cut of the same spot can drift apart quickly across email threads and shared drives. Agencies with a clear review process, and one place where clients find the latest version of each language, are easier to work with over a long relationship.

How Fabric helps creative agency teams

Fabric gives an agency one workspace for its files, client feedback and team knowledge, with AI search across all of it. The agency setup is built around one space per client, with briefs, assets, decks and call notes kept together, which suits shops running French and English versions of the same campaign.

Large production files sit in Fabric’s cloud drive, which streams files on demand so they take no local disk space. Editors and designers can open heavy files without waiting for a full download. Search works by meaning across documents, images and transcribed recordings, colour search finds visual assets by shade, and similar search surfaces related work, such as a past campaign, from a selected image.

Client feedback runs through sharing. Share a file or folder with the client as a commenter, and they can open it without creating an account. With annotations, they leave timestamped comments on video and audio, draw on a video frame or an image and attach a comment to the drawing, or highlight text in a script or PDF. The team marks each comment completed as it is resolved, so a round of feedback works like a checklist. Collaboration adds threaded comments, @mentions and roles on every file.

For final delivery, any file or folder can be published as a web page, view-only and with optional download, and protected with a password. Link analytics shows when each named recipient opened a link and how long they spent with it, which helps with pitch decks. There is more on this approach in why agencies stop sending Google Drive links to clients. On Team plans, self-writing docs keep a page for each client up to date from meetings, Slack and the workspace, covering decisions, deliverables and open items.

Password protection and link analytics are included on Pro and Team plans, and self-writing docs on Team plans. See plans for teams.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best creative agency in Montreal?

There is no single answer, as the right agency depends on the brief. On recent recognition, Rethink, which has a Montreal office, was Cannes Lions 2026 Independent Agency of the Year, lg2 has twice been the ADCC’s Design Agency of the Year, and Sid Lee took Bronze at Strategy’s 2024 Agency of the Year.

Do Montreal creative agencies work in English as well as French?

Most do. Agencies such as lg2, Sid Lee, Rethink and Bleublancrouge run work for Quebec and the rest of Canada, and several have Toronto offices as well. French is usually the lead language for Quebec campaigns.

Which Montreal creative agencies are independent?

lg2, Rethink, Bleublancrouge and TUX all describe themselves as independent, and lg2 says it is the largest independent creative agency in Canada. Sid Lee is part of kyu, a group of creative companies.

Where are the network agencies such as Cossette, Publicis and BBDO?

This list focuses on independents and integrated idea shops. Network offices and advertising specialists are covered in the best advertising agencies in Montreal.

Which Montreal agencies focus on social and public-interest work?

Upperkut and Republik both build most of their practice around it. Upperkut works with cities, unions, associations and non-profits such as the Association québécoise de prévention du suicide, while Republik works with brands that have an environmental or community angle, such as Chlorophylle, Oatbox and Équiterre.

Related lists

Creative agencies in other cities: Toronto · New York · London · Los Angeles · Chicago

More in Montreal: Advertising agencies · Branding agencies · Design agencies · Marketing agencies · Social media agencies · Video production

Run your agency on Fabric: Fabric for creative teams · Fabric for agencies · Review and approval